Theft by jihadists increasingly popular

October 4, 2012

Most funds raised by terrorists are collected on the basis of Islamic tax law. For example, Al Qaeda has historically obtained its money from wealthy Arab donors’ zakat and sadaqa called for by the Koran and Hadith. The Taliban has amassed a fortune from farmers’ ushr, Islam’s 10 percent tax on harvests. Hezbollah has been heavily financed through khums, the Shia tax on profits based in the Koran. Abu Sayyaf and AQIM have been enriched by ransoms which are permitted by the Koran. Hawala, a means of transferring money established by Muhammad, has been a vital method of accessing cash for Kashmiri jihadists.

But a few recent stories suggest that robbery and banditry are gaining traction among jihadists as a means of funding themselves and their organizations. Many Islamists view this as permissible because banks charge interest which is forbidden by Islam, the banks use “infidel” paper currency, and theft is justified if it is used in pursuit of jihad which trumps all other obligations.

What makes this story from Pakistan’s Express Tribune unusual is that we don’t normally hear of robberies by the Taliban (although it’s difficult to determine by reading the article whether all four names in the article are linked to the robberies, or if two suspects are extortionists and two are bank robbers):

KARACHI: Anti-Extremist Cell (AEC) of Crime Investigation Department (CID) has arrested two alleged terrorists belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in two different raids in Karachi.

According to CID, two suspects, Dost Mal and Noran Gul were allegedly involved in various extortion incidents across the metropolis and were also responsible to provide medical treatment to injured TTP terrorists in worn-torn Waziristan.

Dacoits [bandits] arrested

Police said they had arrested two suspected robbers, Irfan and Sadique.

They said that two were wanted in as many as 10 robbery cases, as well as being involved in other heinous crimes as well.

Police claimed to have recovered two TT pistols and a hand grenade from their possession.

The report added that Irfan had recently escaped from custody of the Korangi police station during remand. But was caught after a few days…

Take to robbery to fund terror operations, Indian Mujahideen men told

NEW DELHI: Indian Mujahideen (IM) members had been instructed to take to crimes like dacoity and snatching to fund their terror activities in India without depending on hawala money.

The Meet Vihar arms factory was also part of this deal to try and fund activities besides encouraging an illegal arms boom in the country.

The arrest of Mohammad Tariq Anjum Hasan (34) alias Ehsaan – the co-founder of IM and their most important recruiter on Indian soil – by the Special Cell has for the first time helped cops unfurl sinister plots that the IM had hatched to fund their terror activities.

A year after six men from the banned organization SIMI were arrested in Madhya Pradesh,the police claim IM had been orchestrating several big robberies across north and central India to fund their terror activities.

“While a select group of men are involved with the actual planting of the bombs, the other sleeper modules – mostly drawn from the erstwhile SIMI organization – have been instructed to indulge in street crimes to sponsor terrorism.

They have been asked to target jewellery stores and banks for this purpose,” claimed a source adding that these men run into hundreds, many of whom are not aware of the final plot.

Sources claimed that besides Madhya Pradesh, the terror imprint has been found on robberies committed even at Pune, Patna, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

Earlier, the SIMI and IM terrorists arrested in Bhopal had said that they were also behind the armed robbery that took place at the gold finance company in Manappuram last August.

According to the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), the gold loot worth 2.5 crore (13 kg gold) was planned and executed by the same men. They had robbed five banks in Dewas, Itarsi and two other places in the State and are also suspected to be behind the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts.

Money laundering is a process by which the illicit source of assets obtained or generated by criminal activity is concealed to obscure the link between the funds and the original criminal activity. Terrorism financing involves the raising and processing of funds to supply terrorists with resources to carry out their attacks. While the phenomena differ in key ways, they often exploit the same vulnerabilities in financial systems that allow for an inappropriate level of anonymity and nontransparency in the execution of financial transactions. In 2000, the Fund responded to calls from the international community to expand its work in the area of anti-money laundering (AML). After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the Fund intensified its AML activities and extended them to include combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). In 2009, the IMF launched a donor-supported trust fund to finance technical assistance in AML/CFT. In 2011, the IMF’s Executive Board reviewed the effectiveness of the Fund’s AML/CFT program and gave strategic guidance for the work ahead.

Hamas’s dawa network turns the perpetrating of terrorist acts, including suicide terrorism, as a means that, in effect, provides economic security and certainty in the severe economic situation that the Palestinian population currently finds itself in, and thus encourages the perpetrating of such acts of terrorism. Hamas exploits the distressed economic situation by creating financial dependence and the continued flow of new recruits out of a sense of obligation. Moreover, funds designated for dawa have been diverted directly to terrorists in order to fund attacks.